Gun for condenser cleaning slugs



y 1932- w. F, OBE RHUBER 1,867,751

GUN FOR CONDENSER CLEANING SLUGS Filed Feb. 9, 1929 lfllFII/fl/l/lfllllll/ A lw Ll g2 |1ll Patented July 19, 1932 UNITED stares tastier earner err-ace WILLIAM F. OBERHUBER, OF LANSDOWNE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO FRANKLIN DEVELOPMENT COMPANY,

PENNSYLVANIA OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF GUN son ooivnnnsnn- CLEANING studs Application filed. February 9,1929. semi No. 338,674.

My invention relates to a gunfor use in directing steam, gas or water into'theopen ends of condenser tubes in order to drive cleaning slugs already inserted in the-tube ends through the tubes.

A purpose of my invention is toprovi'de a convenient and inexpensive gun of the character indicated that needs of service. r g

A further purpose is to use both the inserting movement of the gun and the pressure of the'driving fluid to automatically effect a seal between the outside of the gun nozzle and the tube into which it is insertedand to use the outward movement of the nozzle to loosen the pressure of sealing engagement;

A-further purpose is to mount a resilient shield around the rearward end of the nozzleofa gun of'the characterindicated and for use in deflecting any .rearwardly escaping fluid away from the operator resilient in order to permit it to accommodate its form to the variant outside surfaces of tubes at different portions of the condenser;

A further purpose is to prevent or greatly lessen any material drag upon a rapidly travelling slug through a condenser tube if the driving fluid is shut off at the gun before the slug has passed through the tube by means of check valve connectionto atmos phere into the front portion of the gun after the admission valve. .This check valve inlet of air also releases any vacuumwhi ch might otherwise be presentimmediately after the slug has been discharged, which vacuum would interfere with easy removal of the gun.

A further purpose is to operatively connect the gland around the operating stem of a longitudinally movable valve controlling the admission of driving fluid to the nozzle of a gun by the angular position of the valve stem;

willbe well suited to the further purpose'is to make a handle that -s'upports a gun of the character indicated operate a valve controlling the admission of driving fluid into the gun.

Further purposes will appear in the spe-" cification and in the claims.

* I have elected to show but one only of the different forms of my invention selecting a form that is practical and eflicient in operation and Winch well illustrates the principles Figure 2 is a detail section taken upon the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section showing my gun in position of use ready'to send a blast of 'drivingfluid into a' condenser tube in order to drive a cleaning slug through the tube. I Like numerals refer-to like parts in all figures. i

Describing'in illustration tation and referring to the drawing:

The illustrated embodiment of my invention comprises an angle valve having a lateral inlet 5 at the bottom, presenting a discharge nozzle 6 at its forward end for insertion into the open ends of condenser tubes and a vertical supporting and valve operating handle 7 carried upon a rearwardly directed bonnet portion 8 of the-valve.

A hollow T member 9presents its branch 5' for threaded connection-to a flexible pipe 10 carrying the driving fluid, presents its rearward end for threaded connection to a bonnet member 8, carries an annular valve seat 11 inside a threaded internalcounterbore toward its forward end carries the nozzle 6' in a threaded bore at its forward end and in an internally grooved counterbore at the forward end of the body carries a flexible shield member 12 surrounding the nozzle. 7

The valve bonnet- 8 screws intothe-r-earward end of the hollow body 9 and gives support to the valve mechanism.

In the valve mechanism a'movable valve element, spring pressed toward closure, comprises a head 13 on the forward endof a stem and not in limi- 14, the head closing on the seat 11 and carrying a forwardly extending annular guide 15 that loosely slides inside the bore of the seat member, and is suitably perforated at 16 to permit passage of the fluid when the head is off its seat.

The bonnet carries a packing gland 31 inside the hollow body, and the longitudinally movable valve stem, extending through the packing gland, is provided outside the honnet with a neck and head connection at 17 with an upwardly directed fork 18 on the upper end of an operating lever 19.

The operating lever has pivot support at 20 upon a downwardly extending arm 21 from the bonnet and presents a bearing surface 22 some little distance below its pivot to the inner end of a screw '23 adjustably mounted in the lower portion of the rocker handle 7.

The vertical handle 7 has pivot support at 24 on the downwardly extending arm 21 from the bonnet, and at its upper portion has'a short range slidable connection with the top portion of the bonnet.

It will be seen that the handle is hollow at 25 and presents fork portions 26 on opposite sides of the neck portion of a neck and head member 27 extending r-earwardly and preferably integral with the upper portion of the bonnet.

The handle member 7 has a range of rocking movement limited by the length of the neck portion of the member 27 in relation tothe width of the cooperating fork portion 26 upon the upper portion of the handle, and is adapted to' readily lift a-wayafter taking out its pivot pin 24-, the head of the member 27 being adapted to pass downwardlythrough a slot The valve stem packing membersare inside the hollow body and include packing 29 in a counterbore 30 of a bore passing the stem through the bonnet, and a gland 31 threading into the counterbore surrounding the stem and adjustably compressing the packing. The valve stem fits sufliciently loosely within the gland member to be capable of free movement between open and closed position and is sealed from atmosphere by the packing i in the usual way. I provide a slot and pin connection at 32 between the valve stem and the gland member sothat the tightness of the packing may be adjusted by circumferential movement of the valve stem since the packing gland 31 will turn with turning of the valve stem.

In the illustration the face of the valve head is slotted at 33 so that the end of a screw driver blade inserted through the nozzle can be used to adjustthe-tightness of the gland by turning the valve member, the end of the blade enteringthe slot 33.

The valve element is spring pressed toward closure by a compression spring 34 which surrounds the stem and is compressed between the rearward face of the head and the forwardly directed face of the bonnet.

I provide at 35 a check valve connection to atmosphere into the interior of the gun ahead of the valve seat, and thereby avoid any material rearward drag upon a rapidly moving slug if an operator should shut off the admission of driving fluid before'the slug has completed its passage through the tube.

The flexible shield 12 at the front of the gun includes a hub 36 surrounding the rearward portion of the nozzle 6 and having an outward flange 37 at its rearward end fitting into the [groove in the counterbore at the forwardend of the body member 9. e

The hub 36 closely its the outside of the nozzle and in assembling is inserted into the forward end of the body before inserting the nozzle, collapsing inwardly duringvits insertion sufliciently topermit the flange 37 to enter its groove in the outer counterbore of the body, the nozzle being inserted'after the shield is in place and securely locking the shield from displacement.

. I providethe forward end of the nozzle with a head and neck portion 38 having at its rearward end an easy slope at 39 to full diameter and mount upon the neck portion thereof a resilient tubular washer member-40 preferably rubber which is adapted to longitudinal movement on the neck and when moved rearwardly with respect to the nozzle is expanded radially'by riding up the annular wedge portion 39 and thereby is adapted to effect a better seal with the inside of a tube surrounding the nozzle. r i i aThe washer member will be operative whether it be of largeenough diameter to initially frictionally' engage the interior of I.

the tube or require application offluid pressure to extend into engagement with the tube. If itinitially engage the tube, the insertion of the nozzle into a tube will cause the washer to lag in its movementand as a result its rearward end will then ride on the wedge 39 by the time the'nozzle is fully inserted. This .will radially expand the washer to effect a tighter seal against the inside of the tube.

I prefer to make the washer small enough in diameter so that itwill not be expanded by engagement with the inner tube wall but will be driven rearwardly and hence will be expanded by rearward flow of driving fluid, to protect against leakage of fluid.

When the driving fluid is admitted past the valve the sudden fluid pressure in the tube ahead of the nozzle additionally tightens the seal by pressing rearwardly upon the' washer member, tending to ride it further up the annular wedge 39.

The tubular washer has a freedom of longitudinal -move1nent and usually not only tightens. by radial expansion upon the wedge when the gun nozzle is being inserted but also loosens while the nozzle is being withdrawn from a tube.

In operation the gun, havingflexible connec- 1 tion at 10 to the driving fluid, steam, water or high pressure air, with the handle of the gun normally spread outwardly at the top and the valve head therefore down on its seat, is presented by the operator so that its nozzle enters one ofthe condenser tubes which has already an inserted slug.

lhe tubular washer member usually makes friction engagement with the inside surface and as a result is rearwardly riding on the annular wedge after the nozzle has been fully inserted, as indicated in Figure 3 which shows a condenser tube 4:1 supported at its end in a condenser end plate 42 and sealedwhere it passes through the plate by suitable packing 43 and ferrule 44, with the gun in operating position.

After the nozzle has been fully inserted the operator positively opens the valve by rock-- ing the handle to the position shown in Fig 1.

This admits the blast of driving fluid into and through the nozzle driving the cleaning slug 45 through the tube. The sudden pressure back of the slug and ahead of the nozzle rearwardly compresses the washer 40, tightening its seal with the inside of the tube.

Normally the operator maintains the valve open by keeping the handle member closed at the top for a period of time suflicient to permit the slug to pass completely through the tube before valve closure but as the gun is operated rapidly at one tube after another it may occasionally happen that the valve is closed before the slug has passed clear through the tube.

In this event there tends to be a vacuum formed back of the forwardly moving slug quate relief of the vacuum tendency back of the rapidly moving slug.

IVhile the seal member at 40 aroundthe forward end of the nozzle is reasonably tight it is at times not perfectly tight and any fluid striking back around the outside of the nozzle is deflected from the operator by the resilient shield 12, adapted to easily bend when engaged by external surfaces.

In practice the external surfaces at condenser tubes at different portions'of the condenser plate 42 are often different and the resilient shield accommodates itself to these surfaces bending according to need and resuming its normal form when the need is removed. I

This is often particularly important at the corners of a condenser where at different corners different portions of the shield need to bendout of theway in order to permitthe nozzle to enter the corner tube.

It will be seen that some of the more important features of myinvention include the means for effecting automatically an internal 1 seal between the outside of the gun nozzle and the inside of the tube operative by the mere placement of the gun, the features of a resilient shield around the nozzle outside the end of the. tube for deflecting any escaping driving fluid away fro-mthe operator and adapted to use at tubes located close to surfaces that engage the shield, the shield ,momentarily bending to. permit the use of the gun close-to such surfaces; the feature of check valve relief ahead of the valve opening if an operator closes off the driving fluid before a slug has completed its passage through 'a tube; the feature of placing the packing gland of the valve stem inside the z g body of the valve member and the adjustment of the gland by rotary movement of the valve memberand the desirablemech- *anism for operating the valve by a small angular movement of the handle by which the gun is supported. I v

In viewgof my invention and disclosure variations and modifications-to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the art to obtain all or part 'ofthe benefits of my invention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore, claim all such in so far as they fall .;within the reasonable spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I I claim as'new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. In a gun for directing a blast of fluid into a condenser tube, a nozzle for entry into the tube end, said nozzle having a head to- Ward its forward end, a neck rearward thereof, and a rearwardly directed flare at the rearward end of the neck and rigid with respect to the neck, and a resilient tubular washer movably mounted upon said neck adapted to radial expansion if forced rearward upon the rearward flaring portion.

2. In a gun of the character indicated, a nozzle adapted to enter a condenser tube or the like and a resilient shield flanging outwardly and forwardly from a rearward portion of the nozzle .fordeflecting any fluid escaping around the nozzle from the rear end of the tube away from an operator and being adaptedto accommodate its form to outside condenser contours.

3. In a gun of the character indicated, a. nozzle adapted to enter the end of a condenser tube, and a resilient flange'flaring outvariant hollow valved body having an outlet bore,

said bore having a counterbore in its outlet end and an outwardly extending circumferential groove in the counterbore, in combination with a resilient hub fitting the-counterbore and groove, an outwardly extending flange on the hub integral therewith and a nozzle having a rearward portion inside the hub and fastened to the body in said bore.

5. In a gun of the character indicated, a discharge nozzle, avalve rearwardly thereof, a fluid connection into the-interior of the gun rearwardly of the valve, an inlet air port connection to the interior of the gun forwardly of the valve, and a check valve in the inlet air connection.

6. In a gun of the character indicated, a discharge nozzle, a hollow valve body rearwardly of the nozzle, a valve in the body having open and closed positions, means for resiliently retracting the valve to closure, a handle for pressing the gun upon the open end of a tube and pivotally mounted on the body and having a limited range of angular movement about the pivot the handle being positioned at one end of its angular movement by operating thehandle topress the gun upon the open end of a tube and at the other end of its angular movement by releasing the said pressure and a lever connection between the handle and the valve positively opening the valve by operating the handle to press the gun upon the open end of a tube.

\VILLIAM F. OBERHUBER. 

